Miami suffers embarrassing loss to Georgia Tech as Mario Cristobal commits ‘the single worst coaching decision’ announcer Tim Hasselbeck has ever seen

Georgia Tech coach Brent Key told reporters he thought Miami would take a knee on offense with a 20-17 lead and the clock ticking down to 35 seconds in the fourth quarter Saturday night.

Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal agreed, admitting to reporters: ‘We should have taken a knee.’

Instead, Miami’s second-year head coach made what ESPN broadcaster Tim Hasselbeck described as “the worst coaching decision” he’s ever seen on a football field.

Miami ran the ball, Hurricanes quarterback Don Chaney lost a fumble, and a review confirmed the turnover.

The Yellow Jackets then covered 74 yards in 24 seconds, culminating in Haynes King’s game-winning, 44-yard touchdown pass to Christian Leary with two seconds left. Final score: Georgia Tech 23, Miami 20.

Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal later admitted to reporters: ‘We should have taken a knee’

Christian Leary and teammates celebrate after his game-winning touchdown against Miami

Afterwards, ESPN cameras caught Miami center Matt Lee on the sideline apparently saying, ‘What the hell are we doing?’

“Not going to make an excuse for it, say we should have done this or that,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said of not taking a knee. ‘That’s it. We should have done it. Sometimes you get carried away with just finish the game and run it. I should have jumped in and said, “Hey, just take a knee.”’

Surprisingly, Cristobal fell into a similar trap while coaching at Oregon in 2018.

With Stanford leading 31-28 with less than a minute to play, Cristobal could have run the clock down to 16 seconds by kneeling and eventually hitting on fourth down. Instead, he ran the ball, leading to a lost fumble, game-tying field goal and an overtime loss to the Cardinal.

On Saturday, the Hurricanes (4-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) paid a heavy price for Cristobal’s blunder.

King was incomplete under pressure on the first down of the final drive, then connected with Malik Rutherford for a 30-yard gain. Rutherford was inside and the clock was running until King snapped the ball with 10 seconds left. The scoreboard showed Georgia Tech had no timeouts remaining; the play-by-play of the game suggested the Yellow Jackets had one more.

Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key, center, celebrates with players after the dramatic win

Kyle Kennard #9 of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets reacts after a fumble recovery in the fourth

Anyway, then came the miracle.

King — perhaps channeling his inner Doug Flutie from another deep throw that stunned Miami in 1984 — rolled right, waited and Leary got well behind two Miami defenders. The throw hit Leary in stride, he slid into the end zone as a few items of debris rained down from the stands.

“I felt it as soon as it left my fingers,” King said.

The Hurricanes had a six-a-side try on the final play of the game, but were stopped near midfield.

Tyler Van Dyke threw for 288 yards but was intercepted three times for Miami. Xavier Restrepo caught 12 passes for 144 yards for the Hurricanes, who got a rushing score from Henry Parrish.

King and Jamal Haynes had rushing touchdowns in a span of just over 2 minutes for the Yellow Jackets in the third quarter. Georgia Tech’s defense under new management — the team elevated Kevin Sherrer to defensive coordinator after a loss to Bowling Green last week — frustrated Miami for much of the night, then somehow got the takeaway what it needed at the end.

Surprisingly, Cristobal fell into a similar trap while coaching at Oregon against Stanford in 2018

Miami outgained Georgia Tech 454-250, had 23 first downs to the Yellow Jackets’ 12, and none of it mattered. Georgia Tech found a way, and Van Dyke had no one to blame but himself — even when asked after the game if he was surprised, offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson didn’t call for a knee-down.

“We trust our offensive coordinator,” Restrepo said. “We trust each other.”

Miami scored in all 16 quarters it played in the first four games, marking the night as one of three teams nationally to score at least 38 points in every game this season. But it took until the final play of the half, a 30-yard field goal by Miami’s Andy Borregales, for either side to get any scoring.

Georgia Tech took a 17-10 lead early in the fourth with a field goal shortly after Van Dyke’s third interception. Miami scored the game’s next 10 points.

Borregales was good from 39 yards midway through the fourth to give Miami the lead, and the Hurricanes put themselves in position to win — then somehow managed to lose.